March Madness: The Gr8ful 8

We had some major upsets in this latest round of voting, so let’s skip ahead and take a look at our Gr8tful 8. May they never cross Samuel L. Jackson in a snowed-in cabin.

Broad City

Blackish

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Master of None

Orphan Black

Game of Thrones

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver

Your new poll, to determine the Fantastic Four, is embedded below.

Now let us weep and examine the damage for our dearly departed comedies.Broad City, which (at minimum) the female editors expect to sweep the whole thing, narrowly edged out New Girl with 52 percent of the vote. This is fair—both shows are established, female-fronted comedies. It’s possible that Broad City‘s raw edginess and overt politics clinched the win. Or maybe Jess’s brief, involuntary departure from the apartment, which provided new character matchups (the editors agree: more Cece and Winston, please!) but disappointingly provided very little humor, is to blame.

Also with a narrow win was Orphan Black, with a 52 percent win, defeating the Netflix mainstay Orange Is The New Black. Will Orphan‘s win against the critically accepted prison drama mean Tatiana Maslany will be nominated, and win, a Golden Globe and an Emmy? (Where do we picket, come summer, anyway?)

Blackish beat Bob’s Burgers with 58 percent of the vote in a surprising upset, if close victory. Bob’s Burgers beat The Simpsons and The Grinder, both Fox contemporaries, but proved no match for the witty, woke, and prescient Blackish. Bob’s is less overt in its acceptance of people (with the exception of Jimmy Pesto, of course), but may also be understood as less funny by our voters. For your good parenting, and unequivocal support of Marshmallow, you’re No. 1 in Katherine’s heart, now and forever.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine swooshed to victory against underdog Baskets with 70 percent of the vote. This was no upset, but nevertheless was a big win. Brooklyn Nine-Nine would be the Duke of our tournament, if the show were set in the South or tarnished by past scandals.

The cop comedy will next face another underdog, Master of None, a Netflix series with but one season but a loyal following. Aziz Ansari’s comedy about love and dating broke the hearts of Party Down fans, with 75 percent of the vote. As in real life, Master of None will go on thrones slayed Better Call Saul with 62 percent of the vote. While it isn’t an upset, it is worth the raise of an eyebrow, given Saul‘s dedicated viewership. Win some, lose some, Saul and Mike.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee unquestionably defeated Bravo’s Top Chef. (Did you know one of our editors hails from the same town as the Voltaggio brothers? News you can’t use!) Full Frontal, which has squashed Watch What Happens Live and Kathy Lee and Hoda’s Today hour, will face Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver. It will be a close race.

If Jon defeats Samantha, we may end up with Last Week Tonight facing Broad City. Both shows have finished strong, and Last Week Tonight received 100 percent of the vote against @Midnight. Jon Oliver’s late night, full-show monologue will face Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal. Both shows are strikingly similar in format, and both hosts are Daily Show alums. At least one editor fears in his or her heart that the final matchup will be Full Frontal vs. Broad City, a Sophie’s Choice of New York-set feminist comedians.

Vote early and often, or risk losing, like Bart Simpson’s fourth grade presidential race against Martin Prince, who won with only two votes.